More than two decades after its founding as Rowan’s only fox-hunting club, the Yadkin Valley Hounds has a long record of vigorous hunts, strong riders and able hounds.
But the hunt has nabbed only one fox in all that time.
“The hounds cannot catch them,” Jerry McKenzie says, “and we don’t want them to.
“We like the chase.”
Chase is what the riders, horses and hounds did Saturday as they kicked off their 25th year of following this age-old tradition.
Meeting behind Shaver Wood Products on owner Jimbo Shaver’s 500-acre farm, they started the day with a drink —called the “stirrup cup” —and the blessing of the hounds by Booneville minister the Rev. Marion Swann.
Then it was off to find the scent of a fox, with a new huntsman leading the way. Laurie Baehr moved here recently from Missouri to be the Yadkin Valley Hounds’ professional huntsman. She works with the group’s hounds year-round and leads the hunt.
McKenzie and Cam Beard Hall serve as joint masters of the hunt. Like Baehr, they wear coats of hunter’s pink, which looks like bright red.
Also on the staff are “whippers-in” — called “whips” for short, like the political leaders you sometimes hear mentioned in Washington. Their job is to keep the hounds safe by riding on the outskirts of the hunt and diverting the dogs from roads or land beyond the area where they have permission to hunt.
Warm weather and some fresh scents set the stage for a perfect day, McKenzie says. The horses and riders followed the hounds on what they believed was the scent of a fox for some time. The trail went cold until the hounds picked up a stronger scent —probably from a coyote —and took off running again.
“It was a workout for the riders and horses,”McKenzie said.
McKenzie leads the first field of horses and riders, who jump over fences that get in their path. Gail Carter leads the second field of “hilltoppers,” riders who work their way around fences rather than over them.
The group’s 35 to 40 members come from Elkin, Newton, Hickory and Winston-Salem, as well as Rowan County. In addition to serious riders, the group also has some social members.
The group hunts on several tracts where property owners have given them permission to hunt and they have prepared the area. In addition to Shaver’s land near Cleveland, they hunt on farms near Third Creek, Fourth Creek, the Yadkin River and the South Yadkin.
“Without the landowners, we wouldn’t have a hunt,” McKenzie says.
Shaver says the previous owner of his Flying S Ranch was a member of the hunt and let it use the farm, so continued the practice.
“I just try to do all I can to make friends in this part of the county,”the Troutman-area native says. “They hold their end up and I do mine.”
He’s pleased with the fox hunters’ respect for the land, he says.
It’s that respect for the land and animals and the outdoors that draws them to this ancient British sport.
“It’s great to be out,” McKenzie says. “It’s a good thing not everybody likes to foxhunt.”Then the fields might be crowded and worn.
As it is, the fox hunters have open fields and plenty of space to enjoy the chase.
“If you like horses and you like the outdoors,” says McKenzie, it’s the perfect sport.
“You can just turn off anything else.”
Contact Elizabeth G. Cook at 704-797-4244 or editor@salisburypost.com
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